Watken two

Verified Slow Way

Verified by 100.00% of reviewers

I like this route for taking me from Kennington to Waterloo Station in a kind of counter-intuitive way. I walked places I hadn't walked before, including to Archbishop's Park, which is lovely and also has toilets that are in good condition. As others have said, it's worth taking a detour to Leake Street tunnel (it's changing all the time) to have a look. While there's still construction going on, you should probably go back to the street to get to Waterloo Station more easily. If you're going straight to the Underground, continue on and the building you enter will take you straight to the Underground.

Not much to add from Mary and Hugh below who I walked with but I agree, this is a very decent route for London taking in plenty of green spaces and largely away from the major roads.

We left Kennington/Oval Station by walking through the edge of a park, before walking along a surprisingly quiet section of the A23. We were soon heading through Lambeth Walk Doorstep Green, and then soon after, via an almost hidden passageway, Archbishop's Park. This ran alongside Lambeth Palace, but that was not apparent from the ground.
Just before arriving at the Waterloo end point, it's worth diverting along the Leake Street Arches for a fantastic display of graffiti - look it up!.

We walked most of this from Kennington to Waterloo before diverting at the end to explore the graffiti tunnel under the railway tracks. An interesting and enjoyable route.

From the Oval tube station, we cross the roads and enter Kennington Park, staying close to the left hand edge on a surfaced path. At the Prince Consort's Lodge we leave the park and cross Kennington Park Road (using a pelican crossing) and follow Kennington Road. There are a number of pelican crossings that can be used to cross. We cross Kennington Lane and continue, then turn left into Lollard Street and cross a small park on a surfaced path. More pavements take us to Lambeth Road, which we cross and take the alleyway into Archbishop's Park. Our path stays on the right hand side of the park, where there are public toilets, then uses the Carlisle Lane tunnel under the railway. From here the rest of the route is a simple pavement walk.

We missed the final part of the route, taking a detour through the Leake Street tunnel, which is popular with local street artists. I wouldn't recommend the route we took beyond the tunnel - we followed the road alongside the station which led to a fenced off area, and entering the station we had to use a lift to avoid entering an area protected by ticket gates. If I were to design a new route through the tunnel, I would probably use the pavement of York Road to reach the front of Waterloo station rather than entering the station building.

I walked this route from Kennington to Waterloo. The south half is read-y, but at least you have the lovely Kennington Park for a stretch. The second half, however, is awesome. A really cool London Slow Ways route that merges awesome passages, lovely green spaces, pleasant quiet residential streets, and vibrant pedestrianised lanes. Especially the north half was a joy to walk. The south half is perfectly fine, and the pavements are wide, you’re just walking along big roads. Several sets of public toilets in the parks along the route, and plenty of refreshment stops, too. There’s even a chance to see London’s wildlife ;).

I think this is a slightly better route than WATKEN One as it keeps you off the main roads for slightly longer. Archbishops Park is a lovely Green Space and you also pass through Lambeth Walk and Kennington Park.

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